1825

20 October

HCA copies a Danish essay into a letter to the benefactor Jonas Collin
(about what separates us from animals), and at the ending of that essay he
says something that can actually be called a red thread throughout his
entire writings and endeavours:

"Into the stream of time crashes everything mediocre,
only the extraordinarily great can continue to exist”.

27 October

Upon Meisling's suggestion, HCA moves in with him. The grotesque bustle of life at the home of the Meislings provides material for tales of Peer's school-life in Lykke Peer (Lucky Peter), amongst others.

19 December 1825

To Copenhagen, where Christmas is spent, upon invitation, with the Wulffs (Wulff had now become director of the Naval Academy and taken up residence at Amalienborg Palace (in the wing later titled Frederik VIII's palace). In Levnedsbogen (The Biography) , HCA cites impressions recorded in his early diaries stemming from this visit, during which he was given three volumes of Shakespeare, "beautifully bound". Here, he recalls the final scene from Oehlenschläger's Aladdin , and sees it as a model for his impression of himself and his entire situation. On an equal note, Aladdin became a model for his autobiographies and other parts of his writing: "Out there on the great courtyard [at the Wulffs' HCA has a bedroom facing the palace courtyard] I would walk, 5 or 6 years ago; no one in the entire city knew me, and now, in the company of a dear and esteemed family, I may revel in my Shakespeare, - Oh Lord, it is just like Aladdin , I too sit at the palace and look down. Merciful God! No, you will not forsake me. I could embrace you!"